Virginia, 2001

Tornado in Virginia, September 20, 2001

September 20, 2001 · NWS LWX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A thunderstorm that moved through Culpeper County produced a brief and very weak tornado. Residents of the Lake Pelham area report seeing a triangle shaped funnel cloud briefly touch the ground.

Where it happened

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS LWX wrote it up.

A thunderstorm that moved through Culpeper County produced a brief and very weak tornado. Residents of the Lake Pelham area report seeing a triangle shaped funnel cloud briefly touch the ground. Little if any damage was reported at the touchdown site. The storm moved northeast to the Catalpa area before dissipating.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Baltimore/Washington wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 20, 2:22 PM EST, 3 hours 58 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 20, 2:22 PM EST, 3 hours 58 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON
322 PM EDT THU SEP 20 2001

LOW PRES IS LIFTING NE THIS AFTERNOON. THE WEAK COLD FRONT IS JUST
WEST OF CWA AND WILL MOVE ACROSS LATER TONIGHT. MOST OF PCPN IS
MOVING OFF TO THE NE WITH JUST SCATTERED STORMS WITH THE FRONT TO
THE WEST. WILL KEEP SOME CHANCE POPS BEFORE MIDNIGHT. THEN
DECREASING MID CLOUDS AND SOME FOG DEVELOPING.

ZONAL FLOW OVER THE NEXT 12 HOURS WITH PARTLY TO MOSTLY CLOUDY
SKIES. NEXT S/W WILL BRING US A CHANCE OF SHRA/TSTM FRI NIGHT.

SAT AND SUN IMPROVING CONDITIONS WITH PTCLOUDY AND WARMING TEMPS
TOWARDS 80 IN THE EAST AND MID 70S IN THE WEST.

NEXT SYSTEM WILL BE SLOW MOVING AND WILL BEGIN TO MOVE IN MON AND
HANG AROUND THROUGH TUESDAY WITH SHOWERS ACROSS THE AREA. IMPROVING
CONDITIONS WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY.

FCSTID = 17
DCA   63  80  63  80 /  40  20  30  10
BWI   60  78  61  79 /  40  20  30  10
MRB   57  76  59  78 /  30  20  30  10
IAD   60  78  61  79 /  40  20  30  10
CHO   60  78  61  79 /  40  20  30  10
HGR   57  76  59  78 /  30  20  30  10
NHK   63  80  63  80 /  40  20  30  10
W99   55  75  55  75 /  30  20  30  10

.LWX...
DC...NONE.
MD...NONE.
VA...NONE.
WV...NONE.

The radar

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 72 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:21 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Culpeper

When
September 20, 6:20 PM EST
Where
Culpeper County, 2 mi W of Culpeper
Rating
F0
Path length
0.2 mi
Path width
25 yd
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates
38.483, -78.033

A funnel cloud briefly touched down at Lake Pelham.

What these are

Tornado
A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Virginia in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Virginia, 2001Warnings in Virginia, September 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5269848.